Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

When it comes to Simon & Garfunkel, I think the folkier the better. That's probably why in my opinion their albums got worse pretty much album to album. Now, this doesn't mean that they would have any bad albums. The whole of their repertoire is really good. I'm just saying that the last two albums, Bookends and Bridge Over Troubled Water are my least favourite albums by them, because they've sort of let go of their early folky sounds and as a result the amazing guitar playing and quiet and beautiful vocal harmonies are not as prominent in their music. There are some notable exceptions and actually some of my all time favourite Simon & Garfunkel tracks are found on this album. The overall feel of the album just doesn't reach the same kind of bliss as Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. or Sounds of Silence.



When I properly started my vinyl collecting, I went through my parents' record collections and also the record collections of some of my relatives. Many of the people who used to listen to vinyls back in the day weren't really listening to them anymore and they were more than happy to give their records to me. Around that time, sometimes when I visited my now ex-girlfriend's parents, I liked to browse through their record collection which included quite a few really good records. I noticed that they had this album twice in the collection. On my next birthday they gave me one of the two as a present. This was the last Simon & Garfunkel album that was missing from my collection.

The album starts with a mega hit, the title track Bridge Over Troubled Water. This song is familiar to pretty much everyone who has listened to pop music. The style of the song is very different from S&G's other stuff. This song is led by piano and sounds more like a solo effort. I'm kind of reminded of Elton John or Billy Joel when I listen to this. El Condor Pasa (If I Could) sounds like a Southern European folk song, which it probably is to be honest. As a composition it's quite nice, but the pan flute sounds ruin this song for me. Cecilia is one of the more upbeat S&G hits. It's very catchy and may cause some serious earworms, but it's slightly annoying and definitely not among my favourite tracks. Keep the Customer Satisfied is quite bluesy song with some swinging rock n' roll stylings. So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright sounds like it could be a long lost hidden track from early Belle & Sebastian. It's not difficult to see where that band got their influences. The Boxer is one of the absolutely greatest S&G songs. It has the great picked acoustic guitars and beautiful vocal harmonies that I really like. It would be even better without the added kind of cheery brass sounds. Baby Driver sounds like an early Beatles song with catchy rock n' roll melodies and rhythms that sound like Merseybeat of the early 60's. The Only Living Boy in New York is a beautiful folk song. The bass lines are particularly interesting in this song. Why Don't You Write Me is a bluesy pop song with great catchy melodies. Strangely enough, they've included a live version of Bye Bye Love as the next track. It's kind of a strange decision in my opinion to mix studio and live recordings on the same album. The album ends with blissfully beautiful and almost drowsy Song for the Asking. It's a perfect way to end the album so you're left with a good taste of it all.

I've been watching some live recordings of Simon & Garfunkel playing live and listening to those makes me really wish I would've had a chance to see them perform their songs live. Their vocal harmonies sound just perfect live as well. Here's a live recording of The Boxer.

Simon & Garfunkel is one of the most important 60's bands for me. Their solo careers that came afterwards have never interested me that much. To me their perfection lies in their early folk records that have inspired thousands of indie folk bands in the later years.

Listen to the album on Spotify.